God Preordained
Posted: January 7, 2009 Filed under: Gospel Quote of the Week Leave a comment“God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation” – John Calvin
biblical theological method in Ruth
Posted: January 6, 2009 Filed under: Questions & Answers Leave a commentQuestion: Dewalt, how does the biblical theological method allow you to draw out both objective and subjective lines from the book of Ruth? How is this different from the moralizing or spiritualizing approach?
Answer:
Objectively– Looks at the Book of Ruth seeing what the goal of biblical theology is and the progression of the over arching premises of the Old Testament in revealing the one who was to come and fulfill the covenants, Jesus Christ. This then gives the historical overview of the Old Testament, which enlightens its real meaning. I think actually proper Objectivity can be and should be proper the Biblical Theological Method.
Subjectively– How this differs because it allows the one to pick and chose the exact matters in which they will look at, why they feel exactly what they want to look at and allowing themselves to deal with what they wish instead of looking at the text for its own value.
How is this different? – Oh, how often I wish I could beat this drum, but seem impossible at times among the conservative traditional reformers. This should be done differently then that of spiritualizing the text, however I think at times it is not at all. Spiritualizing the text is nothing more then the practice of objectively viewing the text. Often times those that spiritualize this text, is because of their experiences, reasoning, or what they have been taught for 40 years in their pews, so instead o valuing Scriptures and freedom in Christ, nothing occurs but one continuing to sit where one feels happy with, and take the scriptures further away from the original meaning then they should. Perfect example… The Puritans! The Puritans saw that in time, their communities, families, the Bible, law, etc was meant for everyone. (Now is the Gospel meant for all, and should we preach it to all? Yes! Are we to pound upon unsaved people the law of god and make sure they live by it? No!) Exactly, this is what happen, the Puritans saw that the Law was for unsaved and saved, and I personally believe close to thonomist, however when then reading the bible, they would often spiritualize the text in trying to crate a culture and society that brought to usher in the kingdom or God, bringing all to the gospel. This however was not right, nor did it work, but ended up in their death 150 years later.
KJV Baby!
Posted: January 5, 2009 Filed under: You Might be a Calvinist if..., You might be a Fundamentalist if, You might be a Presbyterian if 5 CommentsYou might be a Dutch Calvinist if… You still use a KJV.
You might be a Calvinist if… you use a Geneva Bible.
You might be a American Reformist (New Calvinist) if… you use a ESV.
You might be a Presbyterian if… you walk into church with your Hebrew and Greek.
You might be a Baptist if… you swear up and down by the 1977 NASB.
You might be a Fundamentalist if… you made the move to the NKJV.
You might be a Dispensationalist if… you swear by Ryrie Study Bible.
You might be Al Mohler if… you can actually understand all the notes in The Apologetics Study Bible .
You might be a Friendly Seeker if… you still use the 1980’s & 90’s NIV.
You might be a Catholic if… you use a priest… (ouch!)
You might be a Emergent if… you don’t need a Bible, just bring your thoughts or your copy of “The Voice”
Rest on a Promise
Posted: January 4, 2009 Filed under: Sundays with Spurgeon Leave a commentThe land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it. (Genesis 28:13)
No promise is of private interpretation: it belongs not to one saint but to all believers. If, my brother, thou canst in faith lie down upon a promise and take thy rest thereon, it is thine. Where Jacob “lighted” and tarried and rested, there he took possession. Stretching his weary length upon the ground, with the stones of that place for his pillows, he little fancied that he was thus entering into ownership of the land; yet so it was. He saw in his dream that wondrous ladder which for all true believers unites earth and heaven, and surely where the foot of the ladder stood he must have a right to the soil, for other wise he could not reach the divine stair-way. All the promises of God are “Yea” and “Amen” in Christ Jesus, and as He is ours, every promise is ours if we will but lie down upon it in restful faith.
Come, weary one, use thy Lord’s words as thy pillows, Lie down in peace. Dream only of Him. Jesus is thy ladder of light. See the angels coming and going upon Him between thy soul and thy God, and be sure that the promise is thine own God-given portion and that it will not be robbery for thee to take it to thyself, as spoken specially to thee.
ESV Bible Reading Plans
Posted: January 3, 2009 Filed under: Just for Fun Leave a commentLooking for an ideal way to read the Bible? Saw this on another blog and started using it two days ago through my RSS reader (NetNewsWire), and I absolutely love the idea and how it works. See here.
Dignity and Dust
Posted: January 2, 2009 Filed under: Devotional Leave a comment(Posted by Dr. Beeke)
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…. The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” ―Genesis 1:27; 2:7
The two complementary accounts of man’s creation in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7 are necessary for a biblical understanding of who man is. The first account tells us that we were made in the image of God. That is our uniqueness. The second tells us that we were made from the dust of the ground.
Thus, combined in us is the infinite lowliness of being made of the dust of the earth and the infinite dignity of being made in the image of God. We were created of both dust and glory. If we forget or ignore either aspect, we will fail to understand how God made us.
Man, as theologians often point out, has always been his own greatest problem. His first great cry, “Who am I?” is the search for identity. His second great cry, “What am I here for?” is his search for significance. The biblical answer is that man is both dust and glory.
Dust speaks of lowliness. In Psalm 103:14b we read, “He remembers that we are dust.” That should remind us of our lowly origins. God said after man’s fall in Eden, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen 3:19b). Dust speaks of our frailty and finiteness, and the fact that we are not like God, who is eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent. When Abraham came into the presence of God, he acknowledged his finiteness by saying, “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27).
Dust and glory must be kept in balance. If we forget that we are dust, we will ignore or minimize our finiteness and our absolute dependence upon God, who personally breathed into our nostrils the very breath of life (Gen. 2:7). But if we forget the other truth, that we are made in the glorious image of God, we will be content to live as the animals, and we will miss our eternal destiny. If we believe that we are nothing but dust, we will lose the glory that distinguishes us as the crown of creation.
Twitter basics
Posted: January 1, 2009 Filed under: Just for Fun Leave a commentThis guy knows twittering.
Symbolic Speech
Posted: January 1, 2009 Filed under: Questions & Answers Leave a commentQuestion: What are the four kinds of symbolic speech and give me an example for each one. Is there ever any cross-over between any of these kinds within one passage?
Answer:
Mention of the 4 Symbols
1. People Types – examples like Adam, Moses, and David
2. Occasional Types – examples like the burning bush and the Aaron’s rod
3. Ceremonial Types – sabbaths, circumcision, offerings and festivals
4. Civil Types – The Law, judges and kings
Crossover, yes. Examples are the following:
Moses/Law/burning Bush
David/king
Abraham/circumcision
Gospel-Centered Musings 